Detail from "Bathers by a River" by Henri Matisse (photo: Thomas Hawk)
Produced for
The Strand
BBC World Service.
August 2010
20th Century master Henri Matisse is known for pictures full of rich, vibrant colors, but from 1913 to 1917, he toned down his palette and made brooding, dark, experimental stuff– which he later referred to as some of his most important work.
In 2010, New York’s Museum of Modern Art teamed up with the Art Institute of Chicago to present all of his 1913-17 work in Matisse: Radical Invention.
I got a tour from curator Stephanie D’Alessandro.
Music credits:
- Tortoise: “A Simple Way to Go Faster than Light that Does Not Work” from the album TNT
- Duke Ellington and Ray Brown: “Fragmented Suite for Piano and Bass– 1st Movement” from the album This One’s for Blanton
- Kronos Quartet: “Brilliant Corners” from the album Monk Suite
Dan Weissmann 